Your weekly ScamWatch

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Here’s a weekly roundup of cons, frauds and schemes designed to lighten your wallet.

Beware:

Subway scam — The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to avoid an Internet promotion on Facebook that promises a free Subway sandwich gift card for anyone who clicks a button indicating that they “like” the promotion. But there is no free lunch. Pressing the button instead allows scammers to obtain Facebook passwords, the BBB says. Anyone who has clicked this button should change their passwords as soon as possible.

You won! — An unfamiliar voice on the telephone delivered good news: You’ve won the lottery! Just pay the taxes first, then we’ll mail you your winnings. It was a scam Canadian resident Henry Anekwu, 43, ran from 1998 to 2003, stealing more than $600,000 from dozens of older Americans. Anekwu, who collected the “taxes,” was convicted in federal court and sentenced Monday to nine years in prison. He was ordered to pay $510,000 restitution to his victims.

I’m stranded! — The FBI has received numerous complaints that hackers take over social networking accounts and then send desperate pleas for cash to the account holders’ friends and relatives. The hackers claim they’ve been robbed of credit cards and cash and need money immediately, according to a warning issued by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The FBI’s advice: Before sending money, verify the cry for help.

-- Stuart Pfeifer